


Stars versus Fireflies

by darkness_prince_dan



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: M/M, Phan AU, Phan Fluff, Phanfiction, teenage!phan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-04
Updated: 2015-08-04
Packaged: 2018-04-12 23:37:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4499100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkness_prince_dan/pseuds/darkness_prince_dan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dan and Phil cuddle on a river bank and stargaze, basically.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stars versus Fireflies

**Author's Note:**

> This is one of my favourite fics that I've ever written ^^

Twilight has just started cloaking the river bank. The hues of gold, orange and pink battle against the shades of blue and purple. Led by the bright crescent of the moon, slowly but surely the darker colours triumph and dye the night pure black. The moon’s warriors grow in number by the minute, soon miniscule smears of bright white can be seen dotted here and there; they ensure that her reign, however brief, remains undisturbed. The sun does not leave quietly, though. The disappearing luminescence leeches out all other colours thus the world is only left with black silhouettes of trees framing the slowly darkening sky; he’s leaving the moon to rule over an empty and silent wasteland. Cold accompanies the darkness and so mist rises over the river creating an eerie feeling. It sluggishly makes its way above the water and onto the river bank, covering the colourless grass in a soft grey blanket.

A car is parked on a country road. Two teenage boys are sitting huddled close on a duvet by said river. The brunet’s teeth are rattling and shivers run through his body every now and again. The black haired one, however, is quite content having made the decision to put on several shirts and a couple of hoodies. There’s a phone behind them emitting soft artificial light so that they wouldn’t be sitting in complete darkness.

“Why the fuck did I agree with this?” Dan asks nearly biting off his tongue because of the uncontrollable rattling of his teeth.

“Because it was my turn to pick a place for our date and you couldn’t think of anything better,” Phil smiles innocently seemingly not noticing the misery that the other boy is experiencing.

“How long do we have to stay here?” The brunet grumbles.

Phil bites his lip. He really thought this would be such a romantic date, what with the stars and the moonlight. It turns out that May is not the best month for these kinds of endeavours. Maybe they should try and do this in summer when it’s not freezing cold.

“We can leave now if you want,” he suggests regretfully.

“No, we can stay a bit longer,” Dan backtracks at once; he knows how much Phil wants this, it’s been raining for days and now that the sky is clear, the stars are finally visible. Not in the city, of course, so that’s why they both snuck out and drove out into the countryside. “My butt’s freezing off, though,” Dan mutters as an afterthought.

“I could warm it up for you,” Phil winks at him smirking.

“Oh, fuck off,” the brunet mutters shoving the other with his shoulder slightly. But he’s smiling and blushing as is Phil.

He and Phil have only been on a handful of dates. And it’s mostly Dan who makes such inappropriate suggestions but Phil’s been catching up on that.  Dan likes this side of Phil best; the Phil who’s just saying stuff that comes on his tongue without the fear of offending someone or the need to censor himself. Dan’s glad Phil chose him and trusts him enough to simply let go of his perfect boy persona. Of course, it’s just bits and pieces most of the time. But they did spent one of the recent nights talking on the phone. Three forty eight a.m. was a perfect time for them to start sharing secrets; they laughed at some of them while others made Dan think that one truly does not know a person fully and that everyone hides the darker sides of themselves showing only what others expect from them, some are quite successful in this matter.

“But I did tell you to dress warmer,” Phil adds glancing at the shivering boy beside him.

“Well, sorry that I wanted to look good on our date,” Dan rolls his eyes.

“You always look good,” Phil tells him and twines their fingers together.

That’s another thing that Dan loves about Phil; he’s got this quality that the majority of people lack these days, he cares about everyone and makes them feel better with such simple genuine comments without even realising it. However dark his inner thoughts may be, Phil radiates brightness and positivity. Dan has no idea how he manages to do that. The only thing the brunet can offer is a sarcastic remark or some musings on mortality and the irrelevance of everything. He’d give anything to possess the positive outlook that Phil’s got.

“I’m an idiot,” Phil announces suddenly and then he’s pulling off one of his hoodies and handing it to Dan. “Should’ve given it to you sooner, sorry,” he says smiling sheepishly and fixing his messy fringe.

Dan accepts the offer with a ‘thanks’. He instantly feels warmer as he dons on the garment. Star gazing no longer seems such an inconvenience when you’re dressed in a slightly too big hoodie of your boyfriend with a question mark (they haven’t discussed the labelling matter yet).

“What do you think stars think of?” Phil questions looking up into the dotted black abyss while Dan’s discretely inhaling Phil’s scent; it might be a bit creepy but it makes Dan feel safe and loved so he discards that idea.

“They’re giant balls of gas,” the brunet shrugs. “I doubt they think anything.”

“What if they’re looking at earth and seeing what happened billions of years ago?” Phil wonders ignoring Dan’s logic. “Or maybe they’re looking at other planets? Maybe they know where aliens live?” He turns to Dan with sparkling eyes and an enthusiastic smile.

“You could ask them,” Dan suggests.

He can’t quite believe when Phil stands up, puts his hands to his mouth and shouts at the sky ‘where do the aliens live?!’. It would be rather embarrassing if there were people around but now it’s just hilarious and the both of them burst into giggles.

“Well,” Dan raises an eyebrow as Phil sits back down. “What did they say?”

“Pfft,” Phil rolls his eyes. “I’m not telling you. Go ask them yourself.”

“You’re so weird,” the brunet grins shaking his head.

“You like it,” Phil touches their shoulders and Dan smiles shyly; yeah, he does.

They sit in silence for a while. Phil is staring at the stars and Dan’s discretely sidling up to him. Then he’s not as discretely putting an arm around the other boy and his hand into the pocket of Phil’s hoodie because his fingers are about to go blue. Meanwhile, Phil rests his head against Dan’s shoulder getting a better view of the sky and takes Dan’s free hand into his own, warming it up.

There’s a forest on the other side of the river. All of its trees have merged into one great mass of black. Dan prefers to look at it rather than the vastness of the universe above them; it makes contemplating life and death somehow more appropriate. Maybe it’s the absence of the luminous distractions. Or maybe it simply conveys Dan’s approach – dark and depressing without any positive prospects – to those themes better.

However, a tiny dot of light appears amidst the black. It’s not as white and icy as the ones above, rather, it’s warm and yellow and inviting. After a moment another one of them is brought to life. They spread rapidly and the river bank is alight. The minute flecks flutter in the air never staying still. Here and there some of them blink and cease their shining only to glow ever brighter on the second try.

“Fireflies,” Phil says in wonderment as he sits up straighter to look at the insects. “Did you know they live only long enough to mate? Like, that’s their only purpose in life – to reproduce. Kind of sad.”

“Isn’t that the purpose of every animal?” Dan asks watching the flickering dots. “And when you think about it, it’s the main goal of humans too – to infest the world with babies,” he voices one of the thoughts that keeps him up at night and doesn’t allow to simply stargaze.

“I don’t think so,” Phil says turning to Dan. “I think…” he pauses for a second collecting his thoughts and taking both of Dan’s hands in his, drawing circles with his thumbs on the other’s palms. “I think we have to live our lives the best we can and try to leave the world better than we found it. Our legacy will be all that there’ll be left after we’re gone. We should make good use of our time here, make changes, leave some sort of an imprint, stories to be told. And you don’t have to be a billionaire or a leader of some nation to make those changes. It could just be something good you’ve done for a neighbour, a friend or a family member. Helping others is the main goal, I think,” he speaks with such passion and conviction that Dan finds himself smiling; if only he were that sure of something.

“So that’s your plan?” The brunet asks. “Change the world for the better?”

“Yeah, I’m taking over the world and then establishing these rules,” Phil grins. “Want to join me?”

“Sure,” Dan shrugs mock disinterestedly. “I got nothing else planned this week,” he smiles.

“We won’t need that long,” the other tells him, waving a hand. “I’ve got an army of penguins all set and ready. It’ll take five days tops. And then we can –”

But Phil doesn’t finish his sentence as Dan’s lips are on his. The kiss is soft and sweet; a lick over one bottom lip, a gentle nip on another. Dan’s only able to think how glad he is that Phil’s here with him, that he can so easily chase away Dan’s fears of uncertain future, of the insignificance of life, of the inevitability of death. It’s quite refreshing to think about it all in a different light and to have someone add some positivity to it.

They stare each other in the eyes grinning like idiots for some time. Then Phil’s distracted by a shooting star and he’s making Dan wish for something. The latter rolls his eyes but Phil pouts and so Dan closes his eyes and makes a wish. The fireflies are all but forgotten as another star leaves a bright trail in the sky and Phil trains his eyes on it.

“We should go home,” Phil murmurs sleepily into Dan’s hair; it’s sometime later.

Dan despises being the small spoon but Phil made a convincing case by peppering Dan’s face with kisses and the brunet gave in. They’re lying extremely close to each other wrapped in the loose ends of the duvet. Dan can feel every breath that Phil draws, their fingers are intertwined, he’s cocooned in the other’s scent and it’s marvellous; the teenager has never felt this calm and the sad thoughts have ceased nagging him. Phil’s phone has died an hour or so ago and Dan’s too lazy to get his out of his pocket so the only light is provided by the moon, the stars and the fireflies. Neither of them minds much, though. Especially since Dan’s half asleep anyway and Phil is on his way there too.

“Maybe later,” Dan answers to Phil’s suggestion. Or at least he thinks he does. He isn’t sure as Phil doesn’t reply and Dan can’t be bothered to say anything else; he’s too warm and content in this moment to care about some thing or other.

Dawn breaks early and bright. The sun is back with revenge; he easily takes over the sky and the numbers of the moon’s army are not helpful this time. Her reign has ended and her troops are leaving her to face the sun alone. As the colours ooze onto the trees, the grass, the clear waters of the river and the two sleeping teens, the moon takes her stand refusing to vanish without a trace. The white crescent can still be seen in the darker blue of the sky whilst the sun attempts to paint it all over with golds and soft blues as if night never happened. Warmth marches alongside the sun bringing miniature droplets of dew to adorn the sharp blades of grass. All is still and quiet until the two boys wake up and realise that they are most likely dead if their parents do not find them in their beds. After some scrambling out of the duvet and a few loud curses, the coughing of an engine cuts through the serenity of the morning. It lasts only a few seconds and then the river bank is tranquil again.


End file.
